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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Best App Ever??

As a smartphone user, I am a big fan of apps ("There's an app for that!"). As a teacher, I am also a fan of apps. There are so many great educational apps that make learning fun and easy! And students love talking about their favorite gaming apps. If I would let them, they could use up entire class periods simply talking about their favorite apps. But what would be the BEST APP EVER???!!!

The best app would cook and clean for me while sending me on an instant vacation.

Until that app is created, I would gladly settle for an app that would take care of all my grading! I LOVE teaching, but I do not love grading papers. I do enjoy seeing my students succeed, and when I grade essays, I enjoy seeing their thoughts on paper. However, the act of grading is a real chore--especially when you have 130 of something to grade. Quite frequently, the thought of grading stands in the way of even starting the process, so I procrastinate.

But a grading app!!!! WOW! I could snap a quick picture of the item, then it would automatically be graded and entered into the gradebook. Oh, how amazing that would be.

Ooooooh! Even better idea: Let's give all kids iPads that have the assignments pre-loaded! And once a concept is taught, the teacher unlocks the assignment and makes it available for completion. Students complete it, hit submit, and it is automatically sent to the gradebook (graded). After allpapers are graded, a summary report is sent to the teacher detailing which concepts students mastered and which concepts should be retaught.

Until our schools catch up with technology, classrooms will still be primarily pencil and paper institutions.But we should never cease dreaming of the possibilities!